“Just ran it with cash.”įrom 1995 to 2000, Eagle racked up almost a billion in sales, soon growing to 400 offices in 100 countries. “Never had a bank line,” Crane says, proudly. By 1995, Eagle had six offices and was doing $120 million annually in sales. When Crane made that call to his sister asking for 10 grand to start his own shipping company, Eagle Worldwide, in 1984, she did not know what to expect.
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To Crane, that would be real failure that stings far beyond any boxscore or World Series drought. We want to invest in the team, but we have to be shrewd about how we spend that money. People think we’re a big revenue team, but we get no revenue sharing - we’re neutral - and we spend what we make. The Astros have moved toward the middle of Major League Baseball payrolls, but don’t expect them to jump into the fray with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs or Boston Red Sox of the world anytime soon. While the Astros have waded into baseball’s big money waters under Crane, going on something of a buying spree this winter with the acquisitions of Josh Reddick (four years, $52 million), Carlos Beltran (one year, $16 million) and Brian McCann (the club takes on $23 million of his $34 million New York Yankees contract), hardline principles guiding the team’s finances remain. Is it any wonder that this owner runs the Astros as more of a business than a show toy?
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Unlike many of his professional sports franchise owner peers, Crane neither inherited his money or picked it up in one fortuitous dot.com flash (see Mark Cuban). You tell that to one of my kids, they’d think I was crazy.” Jim Crane runs the Houston Astros with a strict business tycoon’s supreme discipline. I had to pay her back! That taught me the value of the dollar. By the way, it’s at 4 percent interest.’ Which was her house note interest. “Mom’s like, ‘Well, that’s what I gave you in extra money - while you were in school. “I go, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” Crane says, chuckling at the memory. This after Crane got through four years at the University of Central Missouri on a baseball scholarship and working odd jobs to cover any overrun. This is a man whose mother gave him a card - with a bill for $220.85 - when he graduated from college. When it comes to business, Jim Crane sees only one way to do it right - relentlessly. Can you get to this gear or that gear?’ I wanted to make sure we had all that on the table,” Crane says, shrugging.Ĭrane replaced Caswell with someone familiar with his demands: executive chef Michael Parker, who runs dining at the ultra-luxe Floridian golf club Crane owns.
I said, ‘Guys, I’ve been in some of your restaurants and that’s not what I’m looking at. There are hungry grizzly bears less direct. Even when both Caswell and his longtime business partner Bill Floyd were involved in the project (Floyd still is), Crane made the scope of his intensity clear. Bryan Caswell of Reef originally was on board, but he backed out in a mutual decision, citing a lack of time. People think we’re a big revenue team, but we get no revenue sharing - we’re neutral - and we spend what we make.”Ĭrane’s sky-high standards - he told Finger he wants Potente to be considered one of the very best restaurants in Houston - may have nudged at least one celebrity chef away from the project. “Hey, I’m right here,” Crane says looking out the window, toward the restaurants, “and I’ll walk over there for lunch. This is very personal project for Crane and it shows. Osso & Kristalla (named after Crane’s son Jared and daughter Krystal’s nicknames) is a more casual all-day cafe. It quietly opened in the heart of Super Bowl week. Potente (the Italian translation for the nickname of Crane’s youngest son James) is a white-table clothed affair that aims to be one of the finest Italian restaurants in America. Downtown Houston stands out as the area most likely to be permanently impacted by the Super Bowl and Crane is doing his part to ensure there is no repeat of the post 2004 Super Bowl development letdown.Ĭrane committed to opening two new restaurants in 500 Crawford, developer Marvy Finger’s new mid-rise. This is Houston’s Super Bowl month, but while the big game itself played out at NRG Park, much of the action took place downtown around Discovery Green, blocks from the baseball stadium and a section of the city that Crane is transforming.